Characters / Mercy Thompson

Mercy Thompson

Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson Hauptman

The protagonist and narrator of the main series. Mercy is a walker - a Native American shapeshifter. She can turn into a coyote at will, and has a few other abilities, such as enhanced senses even in human form.

• Action Girl
• A Degree in Useless: Double Subversion. She has a degree in history...which she doesn't make money with. However, when you hang out with as many long-lived beings as Mercy does, a degree in history is necessary just to keep up.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Played with. Mercy isn't particularly attracted to dangerous men, but she finds it adds to Adam's appeal.
• Animorphism: She can transform into a coyote.
• Bad Liar: But a decent rules lawyer, thanks to growing up around a bunch of werewolves who can smell lies.
• Berserk Button: Doesn't really have one, but she is one for a bunch of people - Adam, Samuel, Bran, Zee, and Stefan. Hurt her, and you will soon meet a messy and painful death.
• Beware the Nice Ones: The number of people who have underestimated Mercy and lived to tell the tale is a very, very short list.
• Car Fu: Took out an attacking werewolf by tricking them into chasing her across a road... right in front of an oncoming bus.
• Combat Pragmatist: When you fight above your weight class as often as she does…
• Companion Cube: Acquires a fae-crafted walking stick that follows her around like a puppy and shows up at opportune times. It was actually made by Lugh himself. In River Marked Mercy turns it into a spear to kill the River Devil with, which adds a very dangerous and bloodthirsty slant to its powers. She ends up giving it to Coyote, but it comes back to her after a while.
• Deadpan Snarker: Especially to werewolves and people who give her orders.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Has a tendency to dramatically shorten the life expectancies of very powerful, very old monsters.
• Determinator
• Dude Magnet: Certainly has her share of male admirers.
• Friend to All Children: Mercy really has a major soft spot for children. She befriended Jesse way before she became her stepmother, she gave a job to help a very lost Alan Frasier and she befriended a young deaf boy named Chad in Bone Crossed. You can always bet Mercy will always act when a child is involved.
• Good Stepmother: Jesse loves Mercy since she was a combination of surrogate mother and big sister to her for years after Adam divorced Jesse's mom.
• Happily Married
• Healing Factor: She has an extremely weak one. Unlike werewolves, who can bounce back from almost any injury in a matter of minutes or hours, Mercy heals at the same rate as a normal human. However, she heals completely, without accruing any permanent damage (otherwise the amount of times she's been smashed up would have left her crippled).
• Half-Human Hybrid: She is an offspring of Coyote, and a human mother.
• Indy Ploy: Favors these, though she does know how to plan.
• I See Dead People: One of her abilities is to see the spirits of dead people.
• Morality Chain / Morality Pet: Mercy straddles the line between the two tropes, and it's said by at least one character to be the most dangerous trait she has. Anyone who attacks her will have to answer to Adam, Bran, Zee, Stefan, and Coyote. Zee points out that it's not in the nature of fae, werewolves, or vampires to help other people but she inspires them to do so anyway. And that if someone ever actually succeeded in killing her, the vengeance that would be brought down on that individual would be literally apocalyptic.
• Ms. Fanservice: Mercy deserves a record for the number of times she has been naked. There have been many times she had to strip off her clothes, which is usually described in great detail, or spent time wearing only her underwear. Sometimes she will wear nice dresses, usually on dates with Adam. Mercy was even considered the pack’s eye candy by a television crew trying to film her and the pack in Silver Bourne, much to her own surprise. Mercy has also been a Dude Magnet as quite a few male characters have been either romantically or sexually attracted to her and she has been a subject to Male Gaze a few times. While she constantly denies that she's beautiful, it's implied the other characters think the opposite.
• Never Heard That One Before: Mercedes the Volkswagen mechanic.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Occasionally plays this card on the villains, doesn't usually bother with people she knows and likes.
• Odd Couple: With Adam. She's the messy, carefree, rules-bending one.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Her take on the time she peanut-buttered Bran's pants as a teenager. Since the first thing any new werewolf she meets does is bring it up, she's going to be hearing it for a long time.
• Pals with Jesus: Coyote from Native American myth likes to drop in and see her on a regular basis. Well, she is his daughter.
• Psychopomp: She can send spirits off to the afterlife and de-animate zombies by telling them to go. She's not very skilled at it because nobody's taught her how to use the power but apparently it's the original reason for coyote shifters existing, because Coyote himself serves the role of ushering people to the afterlife.
• Raised by Wolves: Well. Werewolves, anyway.
• Rebellious Spirit: Might be a side effect of being the daughter of Coyote. And yes, we mean the Coyote.
• Religious Bruiser: Mercy has taken self-defence classes and can hold her own in a fight, she also attends church every Sunday. Though she has reservations about crucifixes due to it being how Jesus died.
• Remember When You Blew Up The Sun: As a kid, she tricked Bran into sitting in peanut butter as revenge when he made her stepmother cry. Bran is one of the largest supernatural heavyweights in the series, is considered The Dreaded by pretty much everyone, and actually has killed people for less. The story has spread far and wide and given her quite a rep in the supernatural community.
• Secret Legacy: Did we mention her father is Coyote?
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: As a shapeshifter who was raised by werewolves, Mercy has basically no nudity taboo. She still tries to avoid stripping in front of people outside the pack just because too many humans confuse casual nudity with casual sexuality.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: This is Mercy's assessment of her looks- if she puts effort into it, she can be pretty but most of the time she's working her job as a mechanic in greasy sweats with her hair pulled back and oil stains up to her elbows. Many of the people who know her think that she's selling herself short.

• Those Wily Coyotes: Turns into a coyote, of course. And is quite wily, as many of her foes would tell you. If she didn't leave most of them dead.
• Unreliable Narrator: Mercy's blind spots and biases are highlighted by both the sister series and the POV occasionally shifting to other characters in her own.
• Useless Superpowers: Not exactly, but her magic resistance never seems to kick in on the really dangerous stuff (she even calls it unreliable in-universe), and compared to the werewolves she lives around, shifting into a normal 30-lb. coyote isn't exactly jaw-dropping.
  • Her ability to "break the rules" is starting to become more relevant as of Frost Burned, when it lets her prevent Adam's Heroic Sacrifice by sucking the silver in him (and the pack) into herself via magic.
  • She has a better sense of smell and is able to move slightly faster (when necessary) than normal humans, however.
• Walking Disaster Area: Due to being the daughter of Coyote , trouble on a ridiculous scale tends to follow her around. Due to who's daughter she is, she's astoundingly good at surviving by the skin of her teeth. Her enemies, not so much.

• Wrench Wench: Fixes cars for a living.

Adam Hauptman

Adam Hauptman

Mercy's neighbor and Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack. There is romantic tension between the two over the first three books. They become mated in Bone Crossed, and married in River Marked. He became a werewolf during the Vietnam War, and now runs a private security firm.

• Authority Equals Asskicking: Successfully defended his position while suffering from unhealed third-degree burns on his feet and hands.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Frequently, because of his job.
• Berserk Button: Has several, specifically Mercy and his daughter Jesse. Do not punch them.
• Compelling Voice: Comes with being an Alpha.
• Control Freak: Comes part and parcel with being an Alpha werewolf.
• Doting Parent: He really does love his daughter more than life itself.
• Death of Personality: Subverted but came dangerously close to happening to Adam’s wolf in Smoke Bitten. With Adam’s curse of becoming an ugly mangled monster, Mercy finds out that it’s slowly trying to replace his wolf and overtake it as Adam’s primary form. Thus, nearly erasing his wolf. More tragic was that his wolf was aware of this and was very terrified of fading away. Thankfully, it was prevented thanks to Mercy’s intervention and Adam’s wolf is safe as his primary form. As of Soul Taken, Adam safely transforms to his werewolf without worry despite the cursed monster remaining present within him.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Grew up in the 50's, and does not appreciate swearing (at least not in front of women). From him, profanity is always a Precision F-Strike. Though Mercy finds out that he actually does swear regularly when he's not around her.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Notoriously, especially where his family or pack is concerned. It took half the pack to keep him from killing some kids who bullied Jesse.
• Happily Married
• I Just Want to Be Normal: Has accepted his werewolf nature…but still considers himself a monster. Mercy disagrees.
• Improbable Age: In-universe. Adam is considered the fourth best fighter of all the werewolves in North America, after only Bran, Charles, and Asil (in that order) despite being only in his 60s. By comparison, Charles is well over 200 years old, Asil is somewhere around one thousand, and Bran was born before Christianity had spread to most of Europe.
• Knight Templar Parent: Takes being a Papa Wolf to extremes — he was ready to hunt down and kill a number of kids who were bullying Jesse. He's working on it. Slowly. Very slowly.
• Manipulative Bastard: Especially in early books. He's not above punching Mercy's buttons to get the reaction he wants.
• Mr. Fanservice: Mercy loves to remind the reader of his good looks and is a Chick Magnet. Adam is possibly in 2nd place behind Mercy to appear naked more than once. In fact, during the early books when he and Mercy were still in their Belligerent Sexual Tension phase, he liked running around in his back yard naked just to bug her. Adam also wears a lot of fancy suits thanks in large part to being a big company owner.
• Nay-Theist: He believes in God… and absolutely hates him for some of the things he's been through.
• Neat Freak: To the point where Mercy used to yank his chain by taking tires off the parts car in her backyard.
• Odd Couple: With Mercy. He's the control-freak, neat-freak member of the pair.
• Papa Wolf: Literally.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Adam has two.
  • In Iron Kissed, Adam transformed into a bipedal form of his werewolf. It’s implied that to get to that form, both the human and the wolf have to be absolutely united in one purpose and one emotion. In this case it’s Adam enraged over Tim’s brutalization of Mercy. Thankfully, this form isn’t evil and Adam had complete control over this form but it’s a form you definitely don’t want to see.
  • Unfortunately, Adam becomes cursed with a new monstrous form in Smoke Bitten courtesy of Elizaveta cursing him after he killed her. This form is the physical manifestation of Adam’s self hatred and how he views himself as a hideous monster. It leans into straight up Body Horror as both the human and wolf features are present but appear mangled with no rhythm or grace. It also came dangerously close to out right erasing Adam’s Wolf from him. Unlike his werewolf or the aforementioned bipedal werewolf, Adam has little to no control over this shape and it will try to kill Mercy on sight. Thankfully, Adam managed to contain it with Mercy’s help and it no longer appears to dominate him or his wolf. But it is still present within him and he isn’t sure if it will ever truly fade away despite what both Mercy and Bran say.
• Unstoppable Rage: Did we mention that getting him angry is semi-suicidal?
• Last Guy Wins : He's the second guy for Mercy, Sam is the first.

Jesse Hauptman

Jessica "Jesse" Hauptman

Adam's daughter and one of Mercy's best friends. Regularly seen with hair colors that shouldn't occur in real life thanks to her fondness for hair dye.

• Badass Adorable: Let's just say she's got her father's backbone, to the point where she was willing to walk into a Faery Queen's home to help save her boyfriend.

• Save the Jerk: After her dad gets outed as a werewolf, she starts getting bullied at her school. She hides the identities of who's doing it from Adam because he absolutely would kill the if he knew. Mercy steps in to get the bullying stopped before that happens.

Dr. Samuel Cornick

Dr. Samuel Cornick

The Marrok's son and the pack doctor. He and Mercy were once an item, when Mercy was a teenager. He's the other third of the love triangle between her and Adam, and becomes her roommate. He's also much older than he appears.

• Deadly Doctor: He prefers saving life to taking it. Doesn't mean he's not very good at taking it.
• Driven to Suicide: Not quite, thanks to Mercy and Adam. But way too close for comfort.
• I Have Many Names: Samuel Branson, Samuel Marrokson, Samuel Avenger, Samuel Whitewolf…
• Manipulative Bastard: Unsurprising, given his age and parentage.
• Older Than They Look: He's nearly as old as his father…who is very old indeed, and therefore centuries older than his brother Charles. Despite the age gap, the brothers have a good relationship.
• Walk the Earth: Did this for a time, while pining for Mercy.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Suffers from this up until he's reunited with his long-lost love Ariana in Silver Borne. They later become mated, and as of Fire Touched have gotten married.

Darryl Zao

Darryl Zao

Adam's second, with a day job as a professor at the local college.

• Ambiguously Brown: His parents are African-American and Chinese respectively. Mercy labels him as "exotic."
• Genius Bruiser: Has a Ph.D in Chemistry, teaches at the local college, and is one of the people in the pack that nobody wants to piss off.

• Not That Kind of Doctor
• Real Men Cook: Breakfasts cooked by Darryl are considered a pack treat. He fresh-squeezes his own orange juice, and gets very testy if you say you don't like it.

Ben Shaw

Ben Shaw

A refugee from a British pack, who left after being accused of a string of brutal rapes. Initially something of a creepy misogynist, he mellows out a little under Adam and Mercy's care and prodding. Also serves as the pack's tech expert.

• Country Matters: One of his favorite profanities, at first, until Adam makes him shut his mouth.

• Evil Brit: Downplayed. He's a rough and sexist Englishman, but gets better over time.
• He-Man Woman Hater: Is initially extremely hostile to Mercy, including sexist profanity. Over the course of the books, he's toned it way down, and become one of Mercy's friends...but she still wouldn't trust him alone with her sisters.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ben may be woman-hating, crude, and snarky...but he's thrown himself in front of bullets for Adam, and risked death and humiliation to talk sense into Adam after Mercy's rape, by revealing his own history of being molested as a child. He's also run into fire—literally—to try and save Mercy.
• Rape as Backstory: Was accused of a series of rapes back in England that stopped when he left, but Adam vouches for the fact that he didn't do it. Also, was molested by his father as a child while his mother did nothing to stop it, which contributes to his misogyny and crudity.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: In contrast to many werewolves (especially the older ones), who generally default to Gosh Dang It to Heck!, Ben is incredibly foul-mouthed. Mercy eventually gets into the habit of mentally editing cusses out of his dialogue unless he says something particularly noteworthy or egregious.

Warren Smith

Warren

Adam's third, one of Mercy's best friends, and former lone wolf until Adam took him under his wing and into his pack. One of the few gay werewolves alive, due to the nasty combination of prejudice with wolf instincts. Currently in a relationship with divorce lawyer Kyle.

• Beware the Nice Ones: He may very well be the nicest werewolf in the books outside of Anna. But don't mistake that for weakness...
• Cold-Blooded Torture Suffers this in Blood Bound, to the point where he looks more like meat than a person. He gets better.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Likes to play up the "dumb cowboy" angle…and survived over a hundred years of violent discrimination through sheer toughness and badassery.
• Gay Cowboy: Very literally.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Adam, oddly enough.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Mercy's first interaction with him is watching him help a battered wife escape from her husband…then using his werewolf nature to scare the ever-loving shit out of said abuser.
• Manly Gay: Gay werewolf and according to Mercy as masculine as they come.

Stefan Uccello

Stefan Uccello

Probably the most decent vampire around, and a friend of Mercy's. Has a van painted like Scooby Doo's Mystery Machine. A major character in Blood Bound and one of Mercy's only nearly normal friends.

• Affectionate Nickname: Mercy calls him "Shaggy" on occasion, referring to his Scooby-Doo obsession.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Suffers this at the hands of his seethe's Mistress, in order to test his loyalty. And again in Smoke Bitten and Soul Taken when the vampires try rather extreme methods to cure him when he's taken over by the smoke monster, and later when Bonarata executes his revenge. Poor dude.
• Cool Sword: Can conjure one apparently out of thin air.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Played kind of dorky and unthreatening pretty well especially before his Heroic BSoD, keeping most of his powers under lid.
• Earn Your Title: He's known among the vampires as "The Soldier", for both his loyalty and military prowess.
• The Fettered
• Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Tries very hard to be this, complete with a van painted as the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo.
• Gratuitous Italian: Sometimes reverts to his native language when he's angry, upset or otherwise emotional.
• Heroic BSoD: Has an extended one after his torture and exile at Marsilia's hands. Hasn't quite gotten over it.
• Honor Before Reason: Unfailingly loyal and tries his damnedest to hold onto his personal code of honor, even when it costs him dearly.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Is implied to have been a particularly heroic and honorable Milanese condottiero when he lived. His armor may have soured and darkened but he clings to his honor as much as his vampire nature allows.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The comic adaptation gives him a rather impressive waist-length mane while in text his hair is approximately shoulder-length.
• Older Than They Look: Looks about twenty, was born in Renaissance Italy.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He's a vampire who's a fan of Scooby-Doo and even tricks out his ride to look like the Mystery Machine.
• Ship Tease: While he's never been presented as a real contender for Mercy's affections, his feelings for her have been made rather clear and there is subtext and hints galore if one chooses to grab a hold of them.
• Teleportation with Drawbacks: His main vampiric power. He can also teleport other people with him, but it's very taxing on him.

Marsilia

Marsilia

A Vampire and Mistress of the Tri-Cities Seethe

• Arch-Enemy: She considers herself one to Mercy.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: In some way, she appears to this way to Stefan. She appears to be jealous anytime Stefan makes time for Mercy
• Enemy Mine: Anytime she works with Mercy when dealing with a threat bigger than them. Such as Corey Littleton and William Frost.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Her relationship with Mercy is……odd. On one hand, she hates Mercy because of Stefan’s love for her and because Mercy burned Marsilia head with Mercy’s own sheep necklace. But on the other, she usually turns to Mercy for help when she needs. Not to mention, she lets Mercy fix up her car.
• Older Than They Look: It’s a given since she is a vampire. She has been described as looking like a beautiful college aged girl , but she was turned into a vampire during the Renaissance in Italy.

Wulfe

Wulfe

Known as The Wizard and a member of Marsila’s seethe.

• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: Being held captive and tortured by his maker, Bonarata, really messed up Wulfe psychologically.
• Creepy Child: He may look like a 15-year-old boy, but he sure as heck doesn’t act like one.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Wulfe has the tendency to switch sides at a whim.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Wulfe is the only character who showed any reaction to Mercy stripping naked in front of him.
• For the Evulz: Why does Wulfe do the things he does? Well, why not?
• Nightmare Fetishist: He really seems to enjoy putting fear into people, especially Mercy. It’s stated he loves the sway of Mercy’s heartbeat when she is near him. He also enjoyed Mercy in pain while she sat in the ancient chair in Bone Crossed.
• The Peeping Tom: He watched Mercy strip in front of him in Storm Cursed. Judging by his “Ni-ce” comment when she finished, it’s clear he enjoyed every second of it.
• Stalker with a Crush: He enjoys following Mercy around to the point he claims it’s his new hobby.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to Stefan and Marsilla, Wulfe wasn’t always the way he is. He only became the creepy vampire he is today thanks to Bonarata’s cruelty.
• White Mage: White witch specifically, rather surprisingly.

Zee

Siebold "Zee" Adelbertsmiter aka "The Dark Smith of Drontheim."

Some sort of German fae who has metalworking magic He's not actually German. Calls himself a gremlin, though he is much older than the term. Taught Mercy most of what she knows about cars, then sold her his shop. Comes in and runs it for her when she has other business.

• Almighty Janitor: He's one of the strongest fae alive. Even the Grey Lords tread carefully around him. And he works as an auto mechanic in a small shop.
• The Atoner: Implied. Something happened to make him stop being the kind of fae that older werewolves fear, and become the grouchy old man Mercy loves.
• Cool Old Guy: Appears to be an older man when the glamour is on, is very, very old, and has a grown son…and is given a great deal of respect even by the Grey Lords of the fae.
• Cool Sword: Well, cool knife, really. It can change sizes and cut through pretty much anything, at the cost of growing hotter with each cut.
  • As of Frost Burned, it turns out he has a collection, many of which are quite nasty because he made them when he was in a terrible state of mind.
• The Dreaded: Asil, who qualifies as one himself, is absolutely terrified of Zee. And that's not rare, many beings that are of similar age find Zee terrifying.
• Earn Your Title: He's done a lot of bad things in the past that led to him being known as "The Dark Smith of Drontheim."
• The Fair Folk: He's some nature of fae. He cals himself a gremlin, but as Mercy points out he's far, far older than the term. The one time he actually dropped his glamour when she could see him, he appeared as a tall, powerful warrior of a fae type that Mercy couldn't identify.
• Glamour: He normally adopts the form of a wrinkly, slightly hunched elderly human man with a German accent. the one time he drops it, his true form is shown to be a tall, powerful warrior with facial tattoos.
• Gratuitous German: Whenever he gets annoyed he tends to switch to German.
• Griping About Gremlins: He calls himself a gremlin most of the time, but Mercy points out that the idea of gremlins only dates back to World War 1 while he's many centuries old.
• Loophole Abuse: Is a master, as befitting a member of the fae. The way he calls himself a gremlin is an example: the fae were required to register what type of fae they are with the US government. But "gremlin" isn't a real type of fae so he was able to declare that he was one without revealing what he used to be known as.
• Meaningful Name: Well, we're pretty sure he killed Saint Adelbert, so...

• Retired Monster: His past is not nice. He's killed a lot of people in the past. Some of whom were quite powerful. Mercy isn't sure of all his accomplishments, but she believes that he's probably killed at least one god. He also apparently killed the children of a king who'd angered him and turned their eyes into jewels and crafted their skulls into drinking goblets and forced the king and his wife to drink from them. He doesn't regret doing these things, he just doesn't do stuff like that anymore because nobody's pissed him off that much lately.
• Shrouded in Myth: Nobody's sure exactly what Zee's done…but it probably involved killing Saint Adelbert, and earning the title "The Dark Smith of Drontheim."
• Ultimate Blacksmith: Retired. At one point in his life, he forged many magical weapons of great power, including possibly Excalibur itself. That was a long time ago, but it's implied that he's still got all the skills should he ever have sufficient motivation again. He doesn't because he not longer has the dark state of mind that led to him forging such terrible weapons and he's trying to hide how much of his power he's retained.

Bran Cornick, aka the Marrok

Bran Cornick, aka the Marrok

Leader of all the werewolves in North America. Mercy was raised in his pack. Believed to be slightly psychic. Is something of a father figure to Mercy, including scolding her when she does something stupid. Has a seriously dangerous side to him called the Berserker that inspired the Grendel and many other monsters, which he is at pains to keep locked away at all times. It is revealed in Alpha & Omega that he was born a witch with the power of telepathy but after his mother, who controlled him for so long, was killed part of his power was taken away so he can only send messages not receive them.

• Authority Equals Asskicking: All of the mighty werewolves in North America, he is both The Leader and the mightiest.
• The Berserker
• False Innocence Trick: Loves to stuff all his power and dominance away, only to unleash it when he really needs it.
• Immortal Immaturity: Averted. While he may look like a twenty-year-old, and pretend to act like one when it suits him, no one would knowingly accuse him of being less than mature.
• King Incognito: Very few people outside his pack and his close friends actually know what Bran looks like, something he uses to great advantage on occasions when he wants to deal with something personally rather than have Charles take care of it.
• Living Legend: He was the basis for Grendel.
• Manipulative Bastard: In spades. Often crosses over with The Chessmaster.
• Mysterious Past: Largely. We do know that he knew the real King Arthur, and inspired the character of Grendel in Beowulf.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast
• Papa Wolf: As much so, if not more than Adam.
• Older Than They Look: Crossing over with Really 700 Years Old. Bran looks like he's a college student. In reality, nobody knows how old he is, even his sons…but they know he's old enough to know King Arthur.
• Omniglot: Bran speaks Welsh, Salish, and English. And given his age plus the fact that he's Bran, he almost definitely knows more languages.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: When he's feeling a particularly intense emotion, his accent tends to slip back to his native Welsh.
• Sleeping Single: He and his wife Leah have a...difficult relationship and sleep in separate bedrooms, but they don't have a sexless marriage.
  • Leah knows she can't measure up to Charles' mother, Bran's mate who was the love of his life, and is (rightfully) bitter about it, but is still a rather unpleasant person. Their situation is made more poignant by Bran's reason for choosing her as his mate - he needs the stabilization of a mate bond because of his past but is terrified to lose someone he loves again, so he chose someone who is shallow and unkind. It's eventually revealed that despite his intentions he still has feelings for her, even if he tries not to show them. And Wild Sides reveals that he actually forced a mating bond onto Leah, breaking a cardinal rule of his. The self-loathing he feels over this violation combined with her lingering mental instability as a result of having her memories stolen contributes to much of their problems.
• Unstoppable Rage: To the point where even fae lords are afraid of pissing him off.

Charles Cornick

Charles Cornick

Sam's brother and Bran's younger son. Native American, born to a magical mother and father and thus has inherited some of her abilities. He's the also the Marrok’s accountant, second-in-command, and preferred hitman.

• Beneath the Mask: With the mask on, he's a stone-cold killer who answers to no one but the Marrok. Under it, he's a talented musician and loving husband who deeply regrets the lives he has to take for the good of the packs.
• Blood Knight: Averted. He may be his father's killer, but it doesn't mean he enjoys fighting. In reality, Charles would love to settle down peacefully in Montana and not kill anyone.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Runs into this frequently. He's the one that the Marrok sends to hunt down and kill disobedient or out-of-control wolves…in order to save the packs and the mortal world from the dangers of an unrestrained werewolf.
• The Dragon: For the Marrok, he is the enforcer.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Two, from his grandfather: "He Who Must Run Into Trees" and "Running Eagle." A.K.A. "Too Dumb To Fly."
• Genius Bruiser: When he's not out playing hit man, he's also his father's accountant and computer expert.
• Good Is Not Nice: Have we mentioned that he's his father's enforcer? But the alternative is almost always much, much worse.
• Happily Married: To Anna. He's a loving family man when he's off the clock.
• Hates Being Touched: Unless you're Anna. Then he can't get enough.
• I Am What I Am: Eventually comes to terms with the fact that while he is a killer, he is also justice, and necessary for the wolf packs to function.
• Insecure Love Interest: Worries constantly about whether or not his job makes him an unsuitable mate for Anna.
• Lightning Bruiser: Considered to be the fastest, toughest, and most skilled of all the wolves in combat, save maybe the Marrok. It comes from having a lot of experience.
• Love at First Sight: With Anna, sort of. His wolf chose her instantly, and it didn't take the man long to follow.
• Older Than They Look: While his father and brother are both very, very old, he was born around 1813 and looks to be in his late twenties to early thirties (as with all werewolves).
• Scarily Competent Tracker: It's implied that it's impossible to evade Charles when he's on the hunt.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Subverted. While Samuel looks much Welsh like his father, Charles takes after his Native American mother.
• The Stoic: Averted with Anna, who gets to see the much softer side under the hit-man mask. Played straight with everyone else; it's probably a bad idea for the Marrok's hatchet man to be anything else.
• Zero-Approval Gambit: Is willing to be near-universally feared and hated by other wolves in order to make his job as his father's hatchet man easier.

Anna Cornick

Anna Latham Cornick

Omega wolf who was set up to be turned by the local pack leader after his mate went Ax-Crazy and killed all his group's female werewolves, needed someone to calm them down. She was abused for three years in the pack and was told very little, until Charles stepped in. Their inner wolves hit it off and they mated, and Anna moved to Montana.

• Apologises a Lot: At first, due to her Rape as Drama backstory and Omega nature. Slowly gets better over the course of the books.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Let's put it this way—just because she's a genuinely good person and an Omega to boot, doesn't mean that she's not dangerous. Ask Nimue. Oh, wait, you can't. Anna stabbed her to death. Maybe ask the black witch Mariposa? Oops, nope, Anna snapped her neck.
• Cute Bruiser: Anna may be lithe and petite, but she's still a werewolf, and is fully capable of ripping off a vampire's arm with no visible effort. It's given about as much consideration in the narration as someone brushing hair out of their face.
• Compelling Voice: Borrowed from Charles. Also, a variation where she can use her own Omega influence to calm down werewolves in a blood rage, often by singing. Though it doesn't always work properly if the werewolf in question craves violence enough to become angry when Anna tries to calm them.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: Omegas are peacemakers, which sounds ridiculous in a werewolf…until you realize that she increases life expectancies just by being around, can calm full-on berserker rages, and doesn't have to obey orders.
• Happily Married: To Charles. They are often physically affectionate.
• The Heart: This is her job as Omega; keep everyone calm so they don't kill each other. Given how much werewolves do kill each other, this is vitally important. Especially with the Marrok's pack, as it includes a large number of werewolves too mentally unstable to go anywhere else, but still shy of needing to be put down. Before Anna, even with Bran's hard work to preserve every wolf, there was still those who had to die, but not since her arrival; which incidentally also increases the number of especially dangerous werewolves available to the Marrok.
• Killer Rabbit: Oh yes. Cute, gentle Anna… who is still very much a werewolf.
• Mistaken for Badass: There is a conspiracy within the FBI working to form an alliance between their government and the werewolves to lessen the chance of supernatural war, or at least ensure such a war did not end in a zero-sum game. Due to the interactions of certain agents with Anna, and seeing how other werewolves differ to her, they came to the conclusion she was secretly the Marrok, and everything they had on her pre-werewolf life was a fabrication.
• Morality Chain: Comes with being an Omega to a degree, but she definitely is one for Charles, Bran, and Asil.
• Silk Hiding Steel: On the surface, she's a slightly-underfed, sweet-natured girl completely overshadowed by her extremely intimidating husband. Dig a little deeper, and you find someone who put a knife between the ribs of the Lady of the Lake and regularly stands up to the Marrok at his angriest.
• What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Anna's Omega influence is helpful for calming angry werewolves, but unfortunately if she is the one upset, it has the exact opposite effect, and every dominant in the room starts looking for which one they have to kill in order to protect her. It also only works on werewolves, and she has no dominant influence of her own to impose her will with, unless she borrows some from Charles.

Asil

Asil, A.K.A "The Moor"

An extremely old and dominant wolf living in Bran's pack. Originally wanted there because he wanted Bran to kill him for being old and crazy, and stayed around after the events of Cry Wolf because he likes yanking Charles' chain. Sometimes serves as a mentor to Charles, as his (deceased) mate was also an Omega.

• The Atoner: Feels a great deal of guilt for having been traveling when his mate was killed.
• Cynical Mentor: To Charles and Anna, sometimes, combined with Trickster Mentor.
• Death Seeker: Originally. Anna helps him get better, by killing the witch who killed and enslaved his mate.
• The Dreaded: Bran and Charles are the only two werewolves whose names inspire more fear than his. Even Jean Chastel, the Beast of Gévaudan, knew better than to mess with him.
• Hero of Another Story: More like sidekick of another story. When we see him from Anna's perspective, he's something of a mentor, and one of her few guides to being Omega. When we see him from Mercy's perspective in Frost Burned, he's a nearly-crazy, ancient, legendary werewolf who creeps her out more than a bit.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Does it to Anna, to yank Charles' chain. Gets much, much more than he bargained for.
• Immortal Immaturity: Subverted. He acts like a crazy brat at first, but it's just a ploy to get Bran to kill him.
• Living Legend: Let's put it this way: When Anna tells other werewolves that she knows Asil, the typical reaction is something along the lines of "The Moor? That Moor?"
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The way everyone who isn't Anna, Charles, or Bran views him.
• Older Than They Look: Like most very old werewolves. He's not quite as old as Bran, though.
• Religious Bruiser: He's a practicing Muslim, though by his own admission he's not been particularly good at following all of the Prophet's commands for some time. In particular, he enjoys a good glass of wine now and then.
• Shrouded in Myth: Before coming to the Marrok's pack, he was the dominate werewolf of the Iberian Peninsula. Neither Mercy nor Anna know how much of what is said about him is actually true (though they both suspect that most of it is).

Honey

Honey Jorgenson

An important werewolf among Adam’s pack.

• Brainless Beauty: Subverted: She seems like this—blond, busty, and not too bright—right up until the point that she clues Mercy into some important points of werewolf politics that had slipped her notice. To boot, Mercy remarks that if she were allowed to hold her own rank in the pack (rather than inheriting her mate’s, as all female werewolves do), Honey would be in the top tier.
  • It's stated in Night Broken that Honey is considering going back to school in order to give her something to do with her life, which would imply that she either has previous education or is fully capable of handling it.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: While something of a stretch it's worth noting that Honey is the first of the females in Adam's pack to treat her with respect, the first to acknowledge the trueness & courage of Mercy's character, and the first to verbally stand for her in 'Fire Touched' when everyone had chose to criticize Mercy for an act they themselves later admitted they'd have taken if it was Adam making it. What makes it vitriolic is that initially she thinks Mercy is little more than The Tease and disagrees with how Mercy shakes up the order of things simply because it suits her to do so. But compared to Auriele and Mary Joe, she's practically her BFF.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: She warms up considerably toward Mercy after she realizes that Mercy does not intentionally cause trouble for the pack and that unlike Adam's previous mate, a human woman who was petty and self-centered, Mercy cares deeply for the well being of Adam and all the members of the pack.
• Happily Married: With her husband Peter. She becomes deeply devastated when he is killed in Frost Burned.
• Heroic B So D: She has one after Peter’s death in Frost Burned. So much so that she fell into deep depression. In the following book, Night Broken, she lost a lot of weight to the point where she looked nearly boney instead of fit.
• Inconveniently Vanishing Exonerating Evidence: Honey actually prevented this from happening in “Iron Kissed.” After Mercy was raped by Tim, Gray Lord Nemane was going to take all the fae items Tim stole along with the mind-wrapping goblet that Tim tricked Mercy to drink from. However, Honey stood up to Nemane and argued that they needed at least the goblet as proof of Mercy’s innocence in the matter. Without it, it just appears as if Mercy just decided to randomly kill Tim after having “sex” in the surveillance videos. While it was ultimately Adam and Samuel that convinced Nemane to change her mind, it was Honey that prevented this from happening in the first place.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While jerk is a stretch, Honey can come off as this. She can be a bit snarky and she doesn’t really consider Mercy her friend, but Honey has a great deal of respect for Mercy. Honey is always a very reliable member of the Pack.
• Only One Name: Despite being married to Peter Jorgenson, Honey is never called by her last name in the books. Just Honey.
• Rape as Drama: It's all but stated outright that she's been used in the past as Honey mentions that unmated females belong to their alphas, and many are happy to take advantage of this. This is probably why Honey was very sympathetic and helpful to Mercy after Mercy was raped by Tim.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Honey is the Girly Girl to Mercy’s tomboy.

Peter Jorgenson

Peter Jorgenson

Honey’s husband and the submissive werewolf of Adam’s pack

• Back for the Dead: Peter had a small but very memorable role in Iron Kissed. He would be around in the following books but was normally in the background. He would get a big role again in Frost Burned only to be killed off right in front of Adam. But his death is what partly sets the story in motion.
• Big Damn Heroes: Although he needed Mercy’s permission to join the fight against Fideal, he makes a huge difference in the battle. He even saves Adam from drowning during the fight.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Defied. Although his death is abrupt, it is by no means glossed over. His death hits everyone in the pack extremely hard, with his wife Honey taking it the hardest. Adam avenges Peter by killing Peter’s killer.
• Happily Married: With his wife Honey. She is deeply devastated when he is killed in Frost Burned.
• Nice Guy: He is one of the nicer members of the pack and is one of few members that treats Mercy with respect.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Peter is by no means ugly, but some find it odd that he is married to Honey who is often described as the best-looking member of the pack.

Mary Jo

Mary Jo

A prominent member of Adam’s pack and a firefighter.

• Back from the Dead: In Bone Crossed, Mary Jo was accidentally killed by a snow elf in a bar brawl at Uncle Mike’s. Mercy pleaded with Baba Yaga of all Fae to revive Mary Jo since Mercy really thought highly of her. After some convincing, Baba Yaga brings Mary Jo back to life thanks to Mercy. With this major action, Mary Jo should be forever grateful to Mercy. Right? She isn’t….
• Betty and Veronica Switch: A non-romantic variant. Mary Jo is the Betty to Honey’s Veronica. Mary Jo was initially the nicer of the two and appeared to get along well with Mercy, even letting her fix up her car while Honey acted stuck up toward Mercy and saw her as a tease toward Adam. Mary Jo is eventually revealed to be very bitter and jealous toward Mercy while Honey ends up gaining a great deal of respect for her and welcomes her with open arms into the Pack.
• Easily Forgiven: Despite joining Henry’s coup to overthrow Adam and trying to personally murder Mercy, she’s still welcomed back into the Pack with little to no punishment.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Mercy nicknamed Mary Jo “Back Stabby Puppy” as a reminder of what she did. Surprisingly, Mary Jo is more amused by this nickname and seems almost proud of it.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She is revealed to be just this is Silver Borne as she had a crush on Adam and wanted to be his next mate until Mercy showed up. Her jealousy was so great that she was more than willing to try and murder Mercy over it despite saving Mary Jo’s life previously.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Mary Jo was initially one of the nicer members of Adam’s Pack and Mercy really thought highly of her. Then comes Silver Borne, we find out Mary Jo joined Henry’s Coup, had a crush on Adam and is very resentful toward Mercy becoming his mate instead to the point of wiling to murder her. While she does have a Heel Realization and helps Adam stop Henry’s Coup, she shows no regrets over her attempt on Mercy’s life. Mary Jo is still resentful and always takes side that against Mercy.
• The Unapologetic: It’s very clear to Mercy that Mary Jo still has no regrets over her failed attempt at killing Mercy. Though we are told Mary Jo has “apologized” numerous times, Mercy can tell it’s very back handed and it comes off more like Mary Jo is doing it to annoy her.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Ho boy. Mary Jo might be the very definition of this trope. She was accidentally killed and brought back to life thanks to Mercy. How does Mary Jo repay Mercy? Tries to murder Mercy by blowing up her home because she was bitter and jealous that Mercy was chosen as Adam’s mate instead of herself. Mercy brings this up as well but Mary Jo completely brushes it off.
• Pet the Dog:
  • She was genuinely worried for Gabriel’s life when he was kidnapped.
  • She was Honey’s moral support after Peter’s murder. Even stayed at her home for a while.

Tim Milanovich

Tim Milanovich

A young scholar with a fascination with myths and legends.

• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: He has a best friend named Austin Summers who is extremely popular among their group.
• Fantastic Racism: Despite acting nice, he makes it clear that he doesn't like fae. While Mercy doesn't sugarcoat how dangerous they are, even she thinks he's taking it too far.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: The most emotion Tim can conjure in others is pity, and his buddies only hang with him on principle.
• Hopeless Suitor: He's this to Mercy, who's already stuck between Adam and Samuel while leaning towards the former.
• Upper-Class Twit: He's a fairly well-off man who comes off as awkward and obtuse to everyone, even with his education and knowledge.

William Frost

William Frost

A vampire based in the Pacific Coast, and a recurring villain in the series.

• Ambition Is Evil: One of his major goals is to control all Seethe.
• And I Must Scream: He can inflict this on his victims by keeping their souls completely self-aware.
• Icy Blue Eyes: One of his signature traits is a pair of these.
• Killed Off for Real: He is finally caught and killed by Mercy in Frost Burned.
• The Social Darwinist: He's a powerful vampire who thinks nothing of killing humans, and wants to become the supreme vampire.

Cory Littleton

Cory Littleton

A sorcerous vampire who was transformed by Andre the Courtier, but who is evil of his own accord. He is the main antagonist of Blood Born.

• Ax-Crazy: He’s murderous and near-impossible to reason with.
• Boring Insult: He throws this at Stefan.
  Littleton: I thought you'd be interesting, but you're not.
• Create Your Own Villain: Andre had no idea what he was getting into by choosing Littleton to feed on and convert.
• Deceptive Disciple: He hated being under his creator Andre’s thumb and reversed their bond the first chance he got.
• Didn't Think This Through: He jumped at the chance to become a vampire without considering the drawbacks, namely, having to obey someone other than himself.
• Enfante Terrible: He was dabbling in evil magic even as a child.
• Forceful Kiss: He does this to Stefan while forcing him to drink blood.
• For the Evulz: The reason behind his existence. He’s particularly cruel even by the standards of vampires. In his own words, the blood he drinks is “not really filling without death.”
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Thanks to Andre, he goes from “just” being an evil wizard to becoming one of the most vicious vampires in history.
• I Just Want to Be Free: A villainous version. Cory lives entirely for himself, casting off the limits of humanity and turning on his creator and master Andre.
• Last-Name Basis: The other characters mostly call him by his surname.
• Resurrected Murderer: Cory Littleton started off as wicked killer of innocents even when he was human. Cory was eventually transformed into a vampire and as a member of the undead he now has taken to escalating his killing spree across the city.
• The Sociopath: A low-functioning example. He’s superficially friendly, but murderous, impulsive, domineering, and totally indifferent to everyone else.
• Tom the Dark Lord: A violent, sorcerous vampire named “Cory.” The other characters calling him “Littleton” edges it into Fluffy the Terrible territory.
• Transhuman Treachery: Defied. His foes make it clear that he was just as bad a human as he is a vampire.
• White Shirt of Death: He shows off his brutality by letting blood stain his white clothes.

O'Donnell's Killer

Tim Milanovich

It is revealed in Iron Kissed that Tim Milanovich is the true killer of O'Donnell who let Zee take the fall.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He’s a cruel thief and murderer who plays the part of a hopeless geek very well.
• Collector of the Strange: He steals magical items with various effects.
• Compelling Voice: He gives himself one with Orfino’s Bane, allowing him to control anyone who drinks from the goblet.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He uses magic to force Mercy to love him and calls Samuel, who she claimed she was dating, “that ugly doctor.”
• Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi: Defied. His having sex with Mercy while she was under his control is only ever called rape.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: While it’s unknown if he loved her back, he has a young cousin named Courtney who absolutely adores him. She is heartbroken over his death and refused to believe he was a rapist. So much so, she vandalizes Mercy’s garage with graffiti with harsh words like “LIAR” and “SLUT.”
• Evil Is Petty: More or less his signature trait. He’s willing to brutalize and kill people who are better than him at something or he feels are not paying him enough respect, even unintentionally. For example, he murdered his best friend Austin just because people liked him more.
• A God Am I: Tim has this mindset when he has all the Fae items he needs.
• Greed: What Tim wants, he will do anything to get, whether it’s money, artifacts, or Mercy.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Ho boy. Let’s just say Tim absolutely hates it when anyone lets him know how much of a loser he is, to the point of showing off his items that give him powers, and then getting angry when someone talks about the details before he can.
• No Kill like Overkill: He is killed by Mercy after she beat his skull with a crowbar, which is brutal enough as it is. But then Adam shows up in his werewolf form and rips apart Tim's corpse to nothing but blood and meat.
• Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: His forcing Mercy to sleep with him is considered his worst crime and haunts her several books later.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Played with. He belongs to an anti-fae hate group, but that’s just his cover while stealing artifacts. He still doesn’t seem broken up over fae being killed because of him.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He was on the receiving end of one by Mercy after he tricked her into drinking Orfino’s Bane. He had the gall to ask her what she honestly thinks of him, thinking she was attracted to him. She does, big time, by letting him know she doesn't think he is attractive and that he has a boring personality.
• Wicked Pretentious: He knows a good deal about folklore and magical items, but his immaturity shows through constantly.
• Your Head Asplode: His fate at Mercy’s hands.

Comic Book Exclusive Characters.

Orson Park

Orson Park

From Homecoming. The former Alpha of the Tri-Cities. Unfortunately, he and his pack went rogue and begun attacking innocent people. The Marrock has ordered Adam to eliminate him and replace him as the new Alpha.

• Affably Evil: He is surprisingly polite to Mercy and even a bit respectful to her, but doesn’t shy away how evil he is.
• Arch-Enemy: To Adam. Park absolutely hates Adam for becoming the Tri-Cities Alpha on Bran’s orders and his at war with him. Adam in return hates Park for going rogue and killing innocent people.
• Big Bad: Of the graphic novel Homecoming.
• The Chessmaster: When fighting with brute force didn’t work, Park decides to play the long game to stack the odds against Adam by holding hostages. Originally Mercy was one of the hostages until Adam convinced Park to swap Mercy with Daryl. Park’s plan was seemingly in order, until Mercy saved the hostages.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: On the receiving end of this. Once Mercy saves the hostages, Adam stopped holding back and killed Park with ease.
• Evil Counterpart : He is basically if Adam was an insane werewolf who indulges in eating people.
• Evil Is Petty: Had an entire family massacred for no other reason but to have a single member as a hostage.
• I Gave My Word: Downplayed. He appears to honor his agreement with Adam on not hurting the hostages (Darryl and an innocent boy), but this is more out of overconfidence that he will beat Adam in combat and kill the hostages anyway. But Park still released Mercy as a hostage only in exchange for Darryl.
• Rogue Soldier: Was once the Alpha of the Tri-Cities until he along with his Pack gone rouge and began attacking people and eating them. Because of this, Bran ordered Adam to eliminate them.
• To Serve Man: Did we mentioned he and his pack eats people?

Hope

Hope

One of Park werewolves and his most deadliest member of his pack.

• Always a Bigger Fish: Mixed with Dirty Coward. Hope enjoys terrorizing those smaller than her, Mercy included. But is absolutely no match against a higher ranked werewolf like Darryl who curb stomps her.
• Arch-Enemy: To Mercy in Homecoming as Hope seems to have a particular hate aimed at Mercy. In return, Mercy hates Hope for massacring an innocent family and continues to terrorize the surviving member.
• Ax-Crazy: One of the more unhinged violent werewolves in the series.
• Blood Knight: Hope enjoys the violence and loves to strike terror among the innocent.
• The Brute: Seemingly Park’s strongest wolf of his pack and definitely the most unhinged.
• Designated Girl Fight: Mercy and Hope have a one on one “fight” in the climax of Homecoming, but it’s a very one-sided fight that nearly ends badly for Mercy. Hope is in wolf form and pins down Mercy who is in human form and naked. Even Mercy’s coyote form would have still been a mismatch. Thankfully Darryl intervenes and kills Hope before she could even scratch Mercy.
• For the Evulz: In the climax, Hope is the only member of Park’s pack that was in her wolf form. Not because she was being prepared, but to further terrorize the young boy they were holding hostage.
• Ironic Name: Her name is Hope, yet she enjoys killing and terrorizing innocent victims.
• Only One Name: Just simply known as Hope.
• Slasher Smile: She sports one when Park tells her she’s free to kill their young hostage once Adam is dealt with.
• The Voiceless: Never says a word in the comic. Doesn’t need to since her actions speak loud.
• Would Hurt a Child: She seriously can’t wait to kill and eat the young boy her and Park are holding hostage.

Hopcross Jilly

Hopcross Jilly

A centuries old Fae who was famous for hunting down and murdering naughty children. She takes the form of a teenager named “Jill” and attends the same high school at Jesse Hauptman.

• Arch-Enemy: To Jesse of all people. After Jesse ended their friendship, Jilly tried to find any reason to kill Jesse.
• Asshole Victim:
  • Technically, Hopcross Jilly goes after naughty children and it’s been implied that there have been some awful kids over the centuries. Unfortunately, she also targets children for any minor offenses.
  • Played straight with her first victim who was an Alpha Bitch bully who continually harassed Jesse at school.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Defied horribly. The main reason Jilly makes Jesse her next target is because she thought Jesse was her friend and ended it because she was creeped out by Jilly’s behavior near children. In other words, Jilly wants Jesse dead because she WAS nice to her.
• Big Bad: Of her own titular “Hopcross Jilly” comic series.
• Child Eater: Jilly bites off the fingers and toes of her young victims.
• Disproportionate Retribution: No matter how small the “crime” these children commit, she attacks and devours their fingers & toes. If that isn't bad enough, she then buries the wounded kids alive and dances over their burial ground.
• Evil Is Petty: Her M.O. Jilly enjoys hunting kids for any minor transgression.
• Hoist by Her Own Petard: A very glorious example as her pettiness catches up to her in the last issue of the comic. After seemingly finding a small reason to attack Jesse, in this case Jesse admitting she loves Mercy over her own mother, Jilly starts to burn since it’s nowhere near a good reason and Jesse is still a good girl.
• Karmic Death: After all the years Hopcross Jilly got away with murder of hundreds of children for pettiest reasons, she burns to death at the touch when she attacks Jesse who is good even by Jilly's ridiculous standards. Jesse realizes this and grabs her to further burn her like a torch.
• Kill It with Fire: She burns to death after trying to attack Jesse who is a good kid. Jesse grabs Jilly so she can burn faster.
• Loophole Abuse: Hopcross Jilly can only devour naughty children. So she works around this by finding any petty examples of “bad behavior,” from liars, disobeying their parents, skipping school, smoking or in a tragic case a two girl scouts who simply didn't ask for permission before going to her house to offer her cookies.
• Unknown Rival: Interestingly, Mercy is one to Hopcross Jilly. Mercy and the Pack discovered one of Jilly’s burial grounds and worked with the local Sheriffs Department in the investigation. Since then, Mercy is trying to find Jilly’s whereabouts to stop her. Jilly on the other hand as no idea she’s being investigated and she doesn’t even know who Mercy is. The only reason Jilly is even aware of Mercy is through Jesse. Past that, she doesn’t even bat an eye.
• We Used to Be Friends: Hopcross Jilly, in her human form Jill, befriended Jesse at her high school. Jesse liked Jill initially until she was creeped out by Jill’s strange and predatory behavior.
• Would Hurt a Child: If you’ve haven’t by now, she hunts down “naughty” children.